The privately printed postcard has an ornate crest of the Anthropological Society of Australasia which was situated at 7 Lincoln’s Inn Chambers, Elizabeth St., Sydney. N.S.W. and the red 1d ‘Shield” stamp of N.S.W. was postmarked with a SYDNEY/ OC 11 roller cancel. It was addressed on Oct 10th 1910 to the Secretary of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, USA. There was a boxed ‘DEF 5/ DUE 5 CENTIMES’ tax handstamp plus 2 other faint purple0 ‘DUE’ handstamps (Figure 1).
The reverse had the manuscript: Dear Sir – We have received your Exchanges (Bulletin) in return. We send you our very grateful thanks, Yours Sincerely, D. Izett F.R.A.S. Hon. Sec. (Figure 2).
The Anthropological Society of Australasia was founded in 1895 to study Anthropology (the science of the origins, physical and cultural development, racial characteristics, as well as the social customs and beliefs of mankind) in all its branches, with emphasis on the Australian Aboriginal. It became the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia in 1900. The Society’s journal was first called The Australasian Anthropological Journal then The Science of Man: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia, and it was published from 1896 to 1913. The Society was founded by Dr. Alan Carroll and its journal was edited by him until his death in 1911 when Mrs. D. Izett became the editor and publisher until it ceased publication in 1913.
Dr. Alan Carroll, anthropologist and physician was born ca. 1823 in London as Samuel Mathias Curl and he arrived in Sydney ca. 1885 and worked as a pediatric specialist. Although his claimed academic qualifications did not include a medical degree, he did claim three doctorates in addition to an M.A., namely D.Sc., D. Litt. and Ph.D. In addition to his work as founder, director and manager of the Society and editor of its journal, he was also founder of the Kindergarten Union and Child Study Association in Sydney. He died in Sydney on 17 April 1911 and Mrs. D. Izett took over both his anthropological duties as well as his Child Study Association work. She published Health and Longevity; The Theories of the late Dr. Alan Carroll which was in its fifth edition in 1927.
William Wentworth Bucknell, as the early secretary of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia was responsible for managing and collating studies on the Australian Aborigines and the neighboring Islands. The Society asked members to collect information on Aboriginal place names in August 1899, and forms were sent to government officials in local areas in all the colonies. The survey asked for ‘Name of Place’ and ‘Meaning or reason why it was given’, and Bucknell extracted the information and published lists of the place names in the Journal. In 1896 and again in 1899 the Society circulated another form to members asking for the Aboriginal equivalents for a list of English words and for ‘any other information regarding their Folklore, Traditions, Rites and Customs.’ Extracts from the list were published in the Journal from 1900 to 1913.
The addressee, Milwaukee Public Museum is a natural and human history museum located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884, as a not-for-profit organization. It shared information with other scientific organizations and Societies and the reverse of the postcards shows that the two institutions shared information in 1910.